From penguin parades and reindeer photo ops at Christmas light switch-ons to horse-drawn carriages and "living Nativity scenes" in churchyards complete with sheep and donkeys, a number of different animal species are exploited in seasonal displays.

I've combined my love for dogs with my knowledge of dog training. It's so much fun when my four-legged friends do what I want and not vice versa. At the same time, my dogs should be happy, because if my dogs aren't happy, neither am I.

What I dislike is the lack of regulation, and the rise of start-up companies with neither the knowledge nor experience to share such specialist animals with the public. The problem with animal encounter companies can be split broadly into two main areas: animal welfare, and, public safety.

Given our expanding understanding of animals' needs and their capacity to experience suffering, it is clear that some of the current provisions for animals are not the highest standards that could be possible.

This Earth Day, 22 April, many environmentalists will be advocating the three R's - recycling, reusing and reducing. While these actions are important and worthwhile, we would be better off focusing on a different letter: V for vegan.

I think that how we interact with nature and animals says a lot about our species. If there were a Court that could judge every living thing on this planet and what impact - collectively - its had then I fear our species would find itself condemned.

Last week we were all shocked by the heartbreaking photos of Hope the dog who was found emaciated and half the weight she should have been. She was described by a vet as the thinnest dog she'd seen alive.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence on Canada's Eastern seaboard is a wild, unforgiving place, subject to extreme weather and partially covered with sea ice for much of the winter. At this time of year, it's particularly important for harp seals, who haul out onto the sea ice at the end of every winter to give birth to their pups in one of nature's most remarkable events. Their mothers stay with the pups for a few short days, feeding them high fat milk, after which the adults head back to sea leaving the pups on the ice. However, the future of these seal populations is threatened. Climate change is reducing the extent to which the winter sea ice forms and the ice is melting ever earlier, meaning mothers have less ice on which to give birth. The helpless pups can die as their icy platform melts away.